Sohu Video open to acquiring competitors

Summary:Exec says Chinese video site not closed to possibility of acquiring others to supplement its online video business, but company refuses to say if it will buy online video service provider, PPS Net TV, which is rumored to be on sale.

Sohu Video is open to the idea of acquiring competitors to boost its online video offerings, but refuses to confirm or deny rumors that the company currently is in negotiations to do so.

According to a report Monday by ZDNet Asia's sister site, CNET China, rumors had surfaced that online video service provider PPS Net TV's plans to put itself on sale. However, its CEO Xu Weifeng denied reports that the company was looking for a buyer or that it had approached online video sites, such as Sohu and iQIYI.com, for a possible deal.

Yu Tao, senior director of strategic cooperation at Sohu Video, declined to comment on whether the video division of the Chinese portal Sohu, would acquire PPS, but said Sohu has always had an "open" attitude toward industrial cooperation.

Yu added that Sohu does not rule out the possibility of acquiring other businesses as along as it is in line with the company's development strategy, the report said.

China's Internet video market has seen major shakeups this year. The country's top two video sites, Youku and Tudou, merged early last month while Best TV bought over Funshion Online for US$30 million in end-March.

With the ongoing consolidation of the Chinese Internet video market, an analyst said in the CNET China report that video companies without the ability to compete were at risk of being brought over by others.

The only journalist in the team without a Western name, Yun Qing hails from the mountainy Malaysian state, Sabah. She currently covers the hardware and networking beats, as well as everything else that falls into her lap, at ZDNet Asia. Her RSS feed includes tech news sites and most of the Cheezburger network. She is also a cheapskate mas...
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